Adventure seed: The Hands of Sabazius.

Suggested by this.

Slight of Hand

Ah, yes, the so-called ‘Hand of Sabazius’ cult. Kind of an embarrassment, that one. Ever have a joke go a little too far?

It all started in the 17th Century, when a bunch of hyper-powered alchemists – either supernaturally or technologically so, depending on your campaign’s views on magic – got it into their heads to send each other simulated, yet still deadly (again: either supernaturally or chemically so), Hands of Glory as part of an ongoing academic/esoteric feud.  Things got out of… well, the pun there was and is obvious, no?

Alas, when the smoke cleared the surviving alchemists found themselves in both possession of a number of dangerous hands, and under the increasingly watchful eyes of various disapproving religious organizations.  Clearly the evidence needed to be disposed of, only not permanently (the stuff that the Hands were made of was quite valuable).  So the alchemists covered the items in bronze (better suited for protecting against long-term corrosion than steel would be) and made up a bunch of stories about how the Hands were part of some bizarre Roman cult.  Faking up the evidence for that was surprisingly easy in an era that didn’t have several thousand copies of every published book and carbon dating.  Indeed, the alchemists decided to make a bit of a game of the whole thing.

Which is why your adventuring party should care.  Scholars of the era delighted in puzzles and riddles and secret maps; every Hand of Sabazius that the party finds could be a clue to a treasure!  And the items themselves have a deadly creamy filling, even in games that aren’t about the supernatural.  Toxic materials are inherently adventure-prone, particularly when they fall into the wrong… sorry, I did it again.